Flag of the French Southern Territories

What the flag of the French Southern Territories looks like

The flag has a blue field with a small tricolor of blue, white and red in the upper hoist corner. In the lower fly, the white letters T.A.A.F, standing for Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, form a monogram stylized to resemble an anchor, surrounded by five white stars. The proportions are 2:3.

The French Southern Territories flag emoji uses the same layout. The flag in the corner is the flag of France.

French Southern Territories flag meaning

The French tricolor shows that the territory belongs to France. The stars are often thought to stand for the five districts of the territory: the Crozet Islands, the Kerguelen Islands, Saint-Paul and Amsterdam islands, the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean, and Adélie Land, although the decree adopting the flag does not say so. The anchor-like monogram fits the territory's remote maritime setting.

History of the territory and the flag

The islands were first attached to the French colony of Madagascar. In 1955 they became a separate overseas territory, and the administrator has his headquarters in Saint-Pierre on Réunion. France claims Adélie Land in Antarctica, a claim that is not internationally recognized. The first senior administrator, Xavier Richert, introduced a flag for his office in 1958, nearly identical to the present one but with three stars. The official TAAF flag was adopted on 23 February 2007, the same year the Scattered Islands became the territory's fifth district.

Who lives there

The territory has no permanent population. Several hundred scientists and technicians stay at stations such as Port-aux-Français on the Kerguelen Islands, the main base, and the numbers change with the seasons. Much of the territory is protected as a nature reserve.

Fishing in the territory's waters, mostly for Patagonian toothfish, is regulated by France, and large parts of the islands are protected as nature reserves. The Kerguelen Islands are very remote.